6 Important Guidelines for Designing Kundalini & Hatha Yoga Sets
How to Design Kundalini & Hatha Yoga Sets
6 Keys for Designing a Yoga Set
At the heart of personal yoga practice, regardless of whether it’s Hatha Yoga or Kundalini Yoga, lies yoga sets. The building block for these sets are, of course, yoga poses and exercises and now on Mastery of Meditation there are several free e-books and videos available which provide you these key components.
The Free Online Hatha Yoga Poses E-book and the Free Online Kundalini Yoga Exercises E-Book are rapidly growing resources for you to use in order to form your very own yoga sets and kundalini yoga kriyas. Before you go diving in though and start mixing and matching random poses and exercises, I would like to give you some important guidelines on how to construct these sets.
6 Guidelines for Designing Kundalini & Hatha Yoga Sets:
- Who Should Design Yoga Sets: Don’t try to design a set if you are just beginning yoga practice. Practice some of the sets provided in the Free Yoga Videos and the Free Kundalini Yoga Kriyas E-book and become more familiar with yoga practice first. The last thing you want to do is practice yoga and create more injuries and imbalances for yourself.
- Yoga Sets Should be Balanced: This is one of the most important aspects of a yoga set. By balance here I mean that the poses that twist and stretch you one way, should at some point be balanced with poses that twist and stretch you the other way. Similarly, you should design sets that stretch both arms, both legs, etc, equally if possible. In addition, rotations done in one direction should be followed by rotations done in the other direction. So if in your set you have a backward bending yoga posture, then at some point it is wise to have a forward bending yoga pose as well. As an example, if you employ Cobra Pose early in your set, you can balance it with the Forward Bending Pose sometime later. This will ensure that you don’t end up creating sets after which you feel out of balance and un-centered.
- Chakras Work Should Be Done Low to High: In general the rule to follow, especially for Kundalini Yoga Kriyas, is to start working on the lower chakras first and then move up towards the higher chakras. So you would tend to do an exercise like Crow Pose, which works on the Root Chakra, early in the set and do Stretch Pose, which works on the Navel Chakra, sometime after that. This helps to sequentially increase the vibration of the energy higher and higher.
- Yoga Breathing Guidelines: For most exercises and postures a corresponding breath is indicated. In most cases, there are several options available that allow you to breathe at a level which is comfortable for you. So advanced practitioners might do Breath of Fire, while a beginner might do Long Deep Breathing with a particular pose. One rule with yoga breathing though, is that generally you should inhale when expanding the chest and abdominal region and exhale during the movement which contracts these regions. This allows for maximum benefit from the movements and exercises.
- Rest Periods: It is wise to design specific rest periods within a set. The one important aspect though of rest, which should be included in every Kundalini Yoga kriya, is a period of relaxation at the end of the kriya. This relaxation time is critical to allow the body to assimilate all the energy that has been awakened by the yoga exercises. It is during this time, the body heals, grows and nourishes itself.
- Warm-Ups: If your set consists mostly of difficult yoga poses and exercises only, make sure you do a warm-up set first before jumping into advanced postures. An excellent warm-up set is the Kundalini Yoga Spinal Warm-up Exercises. If you plan to do your set only, then ensure that it first starts off with simple yoga postures and movements, so that you are properly warmed up, then moves on to the more challenging exercises. Warm-ups and not overdoing it are your best defenses against injury.
Summary of Making Your Own Yoga Sets:
The sciences of Yoga, Meditation, Ayurveda, etc, are tools to help you in your own unique path to spiritual awakening. Designing your own Yoga Sets, to help you overcome your personal challenges, I think is a valuable skill to learn. I hope the guidelines above help you maximize the benefits from your personal yoga practice.
hi can u please help me in designing my custom set for kundalini.
i actually want to practice the following kundalini sets:
Kundalini Yoga Eagle Pose for Powerful Aura
Kundalini Yoga Archer Pose for Confidence & Self-Esteem
Smiling Buddha Meditation for Happiness
Forward Bend Back Stretching Pose – Best for Healing
Kundalini Yoga Cat-Cow Pose for Emotional Health
Kundalini Yoga Jesus Pose for Inner Strength & Sacrifice
i want these sets to practice “only” after doing pranayama(alternate nostril and kapal bathi) and meditation(mindful). what is your valuable advice?
Sat Nam Inderpal,
Thank you for your kind words and glad you are enjoying the website.
My teacher is Ravi Singh, and I was lucky enough to study under him when he offered his Kundalini Yoga training in New York. He is a direct disciple of Yogi Bhajan, and one of the original students who studied under the great master.
God Bless You,
Anmol
Sat Nam Anmol – I love your site and the valuable teachings you share with us. Thank-you. I am a student of Yogi Bhajan. Can you share the lineage of your teachers ? Are they students of Yogi Bhajan or did they study with another Master? Thank-you.
Peace – Inderpal
Dear Satya,
Thank you so much for your valuable input and insights. All creation is done by God, one should not think anyone has created any sets, especially oneself or we are in for a real ego trip :-). When the Lord wishes he creates and uses us to create through. We are of course deeply grateful to Yogiji for transmitting and sharing such profound wisdom to us.
Loved your pictures of Bollywood Bhangra. Very beautiful indeed.
Love & Light,
Anmol
Aren´t the Kundalini Yoga sets given by Yogi Bhajan not enough?
Who knows the effect of a selve made Kundalini Yoga set to the ten bodys? I can only warn every one to create own Yoga sets with Kundalini Yoga Postures. There are so many sets given by Yogi Bhajan that we still have no need to create them by ourselves without his knowledge.
Don´t follow your egos call.
Hi Slimist,
1. You may do Breath of Fire, just don’t overdo it and develop your capacity over time.
2. You can do crow pose before doing the set in 101.
Let me know how you progress.
Best,
Anmol
hi i just started kundalini yoga, i am 15 years old
am i allowed to do breath of fire?, or do i need to do long deep breathing first
and i just started class 101, im doing stretch pose
am i suppose to do crow pose first?